Letters
by akatsuki15
Summary: First chapter is a letter from Ben to Tory and the second is a letter from Tory to Ben. It actually does tell a story. Mostly fluff. Added a third and FINAL chapter.
1. Chapter 1

Letters

Disclaimer: I do not own the Virals.

A/N: I forgot what my inspiration was for this.

Ch. 1: Dear Tory

_Dear Tory,_

_ I know that this may come as a bit of a shock but I DO talk. Well sometimes. Not now obviously because this is a letter, but you know that of course. You're not an idiot. Quite the opposite actually, but that's not the point to this letter. Why did I write you a letter anyway? It's not like anyone writes letters anymore. I could have sent you an email or just said this in person. It's not like we live in different countries. And now I'm rambling. Could I be more of a dork?_

_But the whole point to this was well...to talk to you without choking on my words. I can't seem to say much to you in person but when I write you I can't stop talking. Is there no middle ground? __Can I not shut up?__I'm coming to a point. I may be older than you but sometimes it seems as though you're the one who has a better grip on reality. You're living with a father whose existence you were completely unaware of until a few months ago and you still manage to be the most __beautiful,__gorgeous,__ sensible person I know. My parents are going through a divorce and there are times when I just want to drop to my knees and scream. Then I think of you. __You lost your mother and still you_

_ I realized something this weekend. Something kinda major. So I'm just gonna spit it out. _

_I like you. I really like you. I kind of wish I could see your face as you read this, but I'm a coward. Hurl the stones if you must but it's true. I don't want things to be awkward between us. We're virals and somebody has to watch out for Hi and Shelton. When you see me at school you don't have to say anything. I'd prefer if you didn't mention I know our feelings don't exactly line up but I just had to get this off my chest. I sound like such a girl Anyway you don't have to mention this. You can forget it ever happened and burn this letter. I won't take it personally. _

_ I said this letter had a point and it wasn't to admit my feelings. It was the only way I could think of to tell you how I felt about that day at the beach. To me that was one of the happiest days of my life. It was one of the few times that my dad looked happy. He even smiled. Normally he doesn't do that. Even before my mom and dad separated. They were always fighting and it showed. No matter how quiet they tried to be I could always tell by the looks on their faces._

_ I was glad to see my dad look so relaxed but that wasn't the reason that day was so great. It was you. Those games of Frisbee and the dog jokes.(I am NOT a golden retriever!) That day was great even before you kissed me. That's right. I'm bringing that up. And you did kiss me. I might have been leaning in but you started it. I don't know who was more embarrassed when your dad cleared his throat right behind us. Everyone was staring. Things haven't really been the same since and I don't want it to be like that between us. There isn't much I could do that would make this situation worse. So let's just agree to be friends okay? Get things back to how they were before that awkward moment on the beach. You've been avoiding me at school and this was the only way to get this out. So in summary:_

_I like you_

_We kissed and it was great_

_The moment after was awkward and you've avoided me_

_You're dad gave me 'The Talk' (Treat my daughter with respect etc.)_

_I would rather be friends than nothing at all_

_Burn this letter and forget that day. _

_TALK to me_

_ You're my best friend and I don't want to lose you. I hope we can retain our friendship._

_Your friend,_

_Ben_


	2. Chapter 2

Letters

Disclaimer: I do not own Virals

Ch. 2: Dear Stupid

_Dear Ben,_

_ I think it might be more accurate if I called you Stupid. Do you know ANYTHING about girls? We're not that complicated, I assure you. In case you didn't notice, which you obviously didn't(otherwise I wouldn't have to write this letter), I kissed you and you kissed me BACK. Sure it was a bit awkward after but that's life you moron. And life goes on. _

_ Now I will admit that I have been avoiding you, With good reason might I add. After we kissed you left me standing there, all by myself. No backward glance, no lingering looks of longing. Nothing. To add insult to injury you didn't say a word to me at school the next day. Not a single word. Which wouldn't have been so bad because you don't normally say much anyway, but there was this huge awkward silence. It seemed to me if you weren't going to say something then there was no reason for me to stick around. _

_ And then you had the nerve to write me a letter. You didn't even have the decency to say it to my face! And then you avoided my gaze at school once again. You tell me to forget about the kiss and your words but clearly you can't so why should I? Especially when there are reminders of it everywhere. Like Hi's stupid little nursery rhyme. I would love to maim the person who came up with it. Surely one of Hi's ancestors I'm sure. But I'm getting off track. In your letter you made it seem as though this entire thing was my fault, which it wasn't. I'm enough of an adult to share the blame, but I am not about to just sit there and say it was all me. Because:_

_You kissed me BACK_

_You left me to be interrogated by our dads_

_Where were you when Jason hit on me? (AGAIN)_

_You write me a sweet letter(though naive)_

_You avoid any contact after such letter_

_You make it pretty damn hard for me to tell you that I like you too_

_ Yeah that's right. I like you too. Shame is I can't tell you in person. I was going to but the thing is you're never around unless Hi and Shelton are. I mean I couldn't find one single moment alone with you to inform you that I like you. So I had to take the low road and admit my feelings on paper. How lame. I really should just hit you. Problem is it wouldn't do any good. So tell you what. Tomorrow you are going to meet me at my door and walk me down to the boat. No matter how long I take you are going to wait, because that's what good boyfriends do. And you are not going to complain about it. Then you are going to walk me to school and as many of my classes as possible. You can exclude the ones that are too far out of your way. You will sit with me at lunch as always and you will walk me back to the boat after school. You know what I'll just make you a list of what a boyfriend does:_

_Walks girlfriend to and from school and classes_

_Holds girlfriend's hand unless his hands are other wise occupied (for example holding his girlfriend's shopping bags or in my case, buckets of seashells)_

_TALKS to girlfriend(make a special note of this one. It's important)_

_Fends off unwanted attention (AKA Jason)_

_At some point, sooner or later takes her on a date_

_ In summary you could compare the duties of a boyfriend to those of a dog. Loyalty, friendship, companionship, protection, and love. I did say you were a Golden Retriever. _

_Love,_

_Tory_


	3. Chapter 3

Letters: Ch. 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Virals.

A/N: Well guys I know I said this work was finished...but I'm only human right? You can thank Burnin'blackandblue for the update. But include Lynnlie and ChaygraceDaya as well. Their reviews inspired me to write this chapter.

"Don't think you can run away from me!"

"Oh yeah? Watch this power walk!" Always true to my word I kept my feet moving.

"Tory! You can't out run me!"

"I can sure as hell try!"

_And so the great chase began..._

I lasted about seven minutes before I started to get winded, about ten after that I was ready to pass out. I'm a healthy teenage girl and I can flare of course but I didn't want to try that in the middle of downtown. So I ran and Ben of course caught me. I honestly think he was just trying to wear me out so that when he caught up to me I wouldn't be able to argue.

I might be giving him too much credit but even if he didn't plan it that way it turned out that exact same way. Right down to the gasping and arm snatching.

"Well that didn't take long." Stupid man. He wasn't breathing hard. Not even a little bit.

"...J-Jerk!" I, of course was bent over near a brick wall with my hands on my knees, trying to catch my breath.

"Now now, is that any way to treat your boyfriend?" _Damn. _Even his voice sounded smug. I can just see his smirk.

"I wouldn't know."

"So you can write it on paper but you can't face it in the light of day?" Did he always have to strike right into the heart of the matter? You would think he was a vampire hunter. All he needs is the stake.

"Pretty much. Took lessons from you." After all this is the guy who couldn't tell me in person that he was crushing on me. And if you ask me he didn't do so well on paper.

"Come on. If I can face my fears so can you." _pock pock._ I'm a chicken. So diversionary tactic number one!

"What fears could you possibly have?" Change the subject. Original I know.

"The same ones you're having right now. Rejection, heartache, intimacy, the list goes on." _Bingo. _And I thought_ I_ was supposed to have a woman's intuition.

"Intimacy?" Tactic number two: Ask a question.

"You're afraid to let someone close to your heart, but at the same time you're scared you'll never feel completely at ease without them. Without me."

"..." And of course he turns it into a sale's pitch. A bit endearing really. But that's not the point.

"I'm going to make this so much easier on you than it was for me."

"And how are you going to do that?"

"I'm going to take away one of your fears: rejection. No matter what you say, how you say it, no matter what you do, or plan to do, I'll be here for you. Always as your friend but hopefully as someone _more_. Someone...who means more to you than just a friend. That's another fear of mine you know? I'm terrified you're going to stick me in the friend's zone and walk away into the sunset with Jackson."

"Jason." The rebuff came automatically. Ben was very liberal with Jason's name. Jack, Jane, Jeff, Jared, Johnny boy, whatever came to Ben's mind. And it wasn't like he was talking behind Jason's back. Oh no, he did it to Jason's face as well.

"Whatever. It started with a 'J'" Which was about all that Ben's numerous nickname's for Jason shared. They didn't even share gender. You saw the list. He called Jason, 'Jane' right to his face and Jason was too scared to do much of anything. He just doesn't have the muscle tone to compete with Ben and he knows it. Besides what could he call Ben in return? Beatrice?

"You don't have to worry about that Ben."

"I don't?"

"I want you to be more than my friend, Ben. I told you in my letter but I get so nervous around you. I didn't know what to say so I ran."

"Not very far I might add." Which was true. Seventeen minutes of running didn't get me very far.

"You're killing the moment." With that stake I mentioned earlier.

"The moment of tension, sure."

"Just shut up and kiss me already."

"Not until you say it." Here I am begging and he wants me to _grovel_?

"Say what?" I'll bite. I'm a love lorn fool but I'll take his bait.

"'I _love_ you Ben'" He said in a high pitched girl voice. He added fluttery eyelashes and splayed his right hand over his heart and raised his left to his forehead. In short he dramatized a faint.

"Oh! Ben my darling! How ever did I manage to get by without you? You simply light up my entire world! I love you so much!" I clasped my hands together and smiled most winningly at him. Even my narration is sarcastic.

"Tory..." He dropped all pretenses and shot me a look.

"Ben..." I gave him the look right back.

"..."

"...I love you." When you can't beat them, join them. See what I'm reduced to? Lame cliches!

"Love you too."

"Well wasn't that romantic..." Well it can't be a mushy gushy moment if I'm present now can it? Besides he loves me just the way I am. Or he'd better because he's in for a rude awakening otherwise.

"Sorry but I don't think Harlequin's used to sarcastic heroines." Is too! Just look at _The Lords of the Underworld_ series by Gena Showalter! Not a ditsy heroine among them.

"I don't know what you're talking about this was made for Harlequin!" My pathetic attempts at narration aside of course.

"What am I going to do with you?" Oh, I just don't know... Kiss me you fool!

"Sorry. Sarcasm is my default."

"And silent is mine." As if the reader's haven't noticed. You;re supposed to be a main character! At least on this website! If Kathy doesn't give you more lines then she's clearly abusing her power.

"That's okay with me. I talk a lot."

"I know."

"..."

"Love you."

"Not gonna work."

"Marry me?"

I slapped him. And then I felt bad. He had this wounded puppy dog expression. I felt like a dog catcher. (You know they have to hate their job) But I turned away before he could see my frustration. Who proposes like that? Especially when they are not even old enough to drive a car! I should go back and slap him again!

**Ben's POV**

I put my right hand on my left cheek and felt the warmth that still radiated from where she had slapped me. I had to smile because I wasn't expecting anything less from Tory. There was nothing else she could do in light of my proposal and yet I felt confident that one day that slap would turn into a kiss and one day that non-verbal 'no' would turn into a shrieked 'Yes!'. Of this I was certain. Now that she said the magic phrase I could get down to business.

"Hey Tory!"

"What?"

"I forgot something!"

"Like what?"

"This."

I cupped her cheeks in my palms and I dragged my lips over hers without closing my eyes. It's a heady thing to kiss someone with them staring straight back at you, a truly intimate moment. For once there was nothing between us. No sarcasm, no drama, nothing but a vivid connection that we both took notice of. It was one I felt sure would never completely go away and that was fine with me. As I pulled back and we started to walk down the street hand in hand I made a vow to myself to make each one of our shared embraces as special as that one.


End file.
